Terms and conditions is a page on a website where the rights and responsibilities of any person who visits the website are listed down. The terms and conditions page of the website serves as a contract between the owner of the site and the person who is using this website. On this page, explanations are also provided for the key terms used.
The responsibilities of the owner of the site are also outlined including their legal limitations for the harm that the user may suffer when using this site. There is no legal requirement for owners of websites to have a page for terms and conditions. However, having a page for terms and conditions can help you to avoid legal problems. This article will take you through the advantages of having a page for terms and conditions.
1. To Prevent Abuse
When you have a terms and conditions page on your website, it serves as a contract between you and the users of your website. This contract is legally binding and it outlines the guidelines to which the users of the website should agree to. For any user to access your website, they must follow the rules that are listed on the terms and conditions page.
To enhance adherence to these terms and conditions, it is important to also list the actions that can be taken on any user that does not follow these terms. These actions may include banning such users who do not follow these guidelines. The abuse that the terms and conditions page prevents includes spamming, infecting the site with a virus, or even using offensive or defamatory language on the site.
2. Reducing Liability
Another benefit of the terms and conditions page is that it limits your liability as to the owner of the website. Liability may arise when the content on your website has errors. When you have a page for terms and conditions you can state that such errors occurring on your website are not your responsibility and this is one way to protect your business. This clause states that you are not responsible for the accuracy and suitability of the user-generated content on your website.
3. Helps You to Set a Governing Law
The terms and conditions page also has a clause for the governing law. The governing law is the jurisdiction for the terms that are listed in the terms and conditions agreement. The government law depends on the place where your business is registered in. For example, if your website is from Chicago in the United States, the clause for governing law will be, “These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of the United States of America and the laws of the state of Chicago.”
4. Helps in Termination of Accounts
The terms and conditions page of your website should also contain a clause for termination of accounts. This is necessary to follow up on the clause that states the rules to prevent abuse on your website. The termination clause informs the users of your website that their accounts can be banned or terminated if they use abusive or defamatory language or even if they spam other users of the website.
The termination clause is helpful for websites that require the users to register before using the site. As the owner of the website, you can then monitor these accounts for suspicious activity and failure to follow the rules. You can then decide to disable their accounts or restrict them from using the website.
5. Copyrights for Your Content
When you own a website, you own the logo, the trademarks, and the design of the website. You also own the content in your website except for the content which has been generated by the users of the website. When you have the terms and conditions page on your website, you can explain that you are the owner of the content on your website. Your content is therefore protected by international copyright laws. This means that no one can use the content on your website unless you permit them. Any person who steals copyrights can be sued.
In summary, the terms and conditions page of a website lists the rights as well as responsibilities of any person who visits this site. It is not a legal requirement to have a terms and conditions page for your website but having one comes with many advantages. Some of the benefits of the terms and conditions page include copyright protection, setting the governing law, reducing liability, and preventing abuse. When you have listed the responsibilities of the users of your website, you have the power to terminate any account of the user who does not comply with these terms.